DeeSpencer

His attack on the contest has been off since round 1 and the one thing he has been bringing is forward pressure. I’m not sure why we’d suddenly take away the one thing he does well and ask him to do more of the thing he hasn’t been doing (winning contested ball). We also can’t afford to weaken our forward pressure with BBB, 2 rucks and no Chandler.

Bowey and Rivers are good across half back although we do miss that aspect of Hunt’s game. The forward line could certainly do with someone express pace to help Kossie but the bigger issue is when we go with too many plodding talls. Chandler has some quick steps on him but overall isn’t fast over a distance for a small and same goes for Spargo. The midfield has definitely lacked pace at times this year and it’s highlighted without Oliver and when Tracc isn’t exploding from stoppages. Especially as Langdon has been contained. Langdon and Oliver are the only mids who I can consistently picture running and carrying the ball in space through the midfield. ANB at times too. There’s certainly a need for more players who can link up with hands through the middle. That’s how you mess up defensive set ups and get the ball through to the fat side or in to deep forward entries.

When you say a lot what you really mean is 2. Peter Wright - who no one thought was actually good, and Jarrod Lyons who they strangely gave away for nothing to the Lions.

How many players have won a Brownlow without getting a 3 voter in the first 9 rounds? How many players have won a Best and Fairest without getting full votes in the first 9 rounds? There's usually 20-30 eligible players in each round, of which at most 5 are genuine contenders for the award. Guys who play high level footy throughout the season. This year the genuine contenders are Sheezel, Ashcroft, Owens, Amiss and for me Michalanney. All 5 have been above average players for the majority of the season and played stand out games. It's no surprise they were nominated early. McVee hasn't been on that level. By the way, the 3 guys nominated later all played down back. You can build a resume by playing really good footy as a defender without stand out games to get the award. A forward or a mid is going to have the easy stats to get nominated. There's almost no way to kick 30-40 goals and win the award as a forward without grabbing an early nomination. Same for a mid who averages 20+ touches.

Hardwick's certainly been a great coach, there's just some doubt on whether he will be good yet alone great at the Suns if he goes there. Odd are he'll be at least good, but coaches do have mixed records second time around.

We had a big name stabilise us before a no name took over. GWS had the Sheeds charade and Choco and then gave the reigns to Leon Cameron who did a great job for a long time before staying too long. Fages turned around Brisbane. Im not entirely convinced they need anyone but a good coach, but I can see why the AFL have removed a possibly good coach for a probably good coach.

Hibbo has only played as a tall defender this year, even in the Pies and Cats games where we played him alongside 3 talls he was given the Johnson and Rohan match ups and Lever moved to play on flankers. Whether he still has the speed for a back pocket job on a small like Charlie Cameron is hard to say, and whilst he feels safer than McVee I’m not convinced he would be. I also remember some pretty bad turnovers from him on a flank role the last couple of years. The extra run and attacking responsibility seemed to tire those old legs. In theory Hibbo can play back pocket, Juddy slides up to a half back in to Riv’s role is possible. That somewhat happened against Collingwood (Bowey’s role). But that requires McVee lifting his attacking output with the role change. But I can’t see Riv getting dropped unless he real takes a tail spin. It’s Riv on ball (resting forward) or Bowey (wing, resting forward) as the 2 options if Hibbo genuinely demands selection, McVee’s form holds up and the other defenders are healthy. Not sure Gus will move back either. Salem back has taken back the job he did at half back. He probably stays on ball and we use Tracc and Sparrow forward more. If he moves anywhere it could be as the 3rd (or even 2nd) winger once Clarry is back. He only works at half back if given the freedom to play loose and intercept, and with Salem and Lever taking those roles we don’t need him. Riv and Bowey as more solid two way defenders which gets the balance right across half back.

I’m not convinced Dew or toughness were the problems. They are one of the best contested sides in the comp and our players and coaches always talk about how tough they play us. Dew’s rebuilt their backline really well from just about scratch. And even then they’re playing Mac before he’s really ready because they don’t have a solid B grade tall to go alongside Collins and Ballard. As good as Witts, Miller, Rowell, Anderson are their wings and midfield depth is ordinary. It’s taken Ainsworth a long time to find his role on the wing. Hollands and Flanders still finding their way. Some will say that’s poor use of really talented kids but I think they are guys who take time despite their draft position. Overdrafted one way running mids who struggle for spots at half forward and rotation mid minutes isn’t uncommon throughout the comp. King and Lukosius make the forward line look good but they aren’t actually stars yet, they’re still so young for tall forwards. Dew’s nurtured them along. Rankine’s a huge loss because it’s a big step down to their other small forwards. Was their game plan incredibly basic - win contests, hoof it long - yes. But did they have the side to work more possession between the arcs without a lot of skill in the half forward, wings and depth mids? Not exactly. Hardwick will probably get them rolling but I feel like they needed just one more summer for the talent to really mature. If Dew was fired for anything it should be just how long it took them to clean the books and how they haven’t recruited well enough with experienced players. He took the job knowing it was going to be tough but he’s had so little help from the head of footy/list manager. Wayne Campbell doesn’t even live full time on the Gold Coast, how is that sustainable?

Tomlinson was just solid at Casey, his disposal stats get boosted by taking the kick outs, more than a few of which he stuffed up anyway. I can’t see him in a forward line with BBB and a resting ruck. We’d have to put traffic controllers out there to direct the 3 big boys as they change direction. If we go for another tall and want Tommo in then it’s surely down back and use Petty forward.

We had more talent and toughness than them up until half way through last years final when they put Berry on Clarry and Tracc was on one leg. Since then they’ve added Dunkley and Ashcroft and we’re missing Oliver. Can we beat them with a midfield of; JJ - 17 (of 24 CBAs) Viney - 16 Brayshaw - 15 Sparrow, Tracc - 12 I suspect we’ll go with a similar rotation, maybe Tracc in for more bounces for going forward. Brayshaw will probably do a soft tag on Neale as he has done in recent games. Assuming he stays in the side I’d love to give Woey a look in the middle too, he has the speed to mix it with guys like Bailey and McCluggage.

His tank is good although no doubt a step below proven gun runners like Langdon and Hunter. His contested work has generally been just ok at VFL level. Half back gives him more opportunity to fix that up and he’s getting there. But he’s noticeably a clear step below someone like Woey for contested work, despite having more size and skill. Woey and JJ are probably the back up wings, no point having a 5th in line winger. At some stage I’d like to see him move on ball and resting forward if he’s just about mastered the half back role and there’s no afl opportunity. But for now he’s still building his game

We should give Deakyn Smith a run as a defensive pressure forward, he’s down the pecking order as a defender but he’s a really willing competitor.

Pretty sure that JVR kick was in to the teeth of the breeze, they both stuffed the pass. Schache got a soft in the back free. Nice finish, he’s putting his hand up but not busting the door down.

Tommy Campbell would’ve played a lot more AFL games if instead of being on 3 AFL lists he could just be available to any team that loses their best 2 rucks.

Verrall has 4 tackles and 3 hit outs, that’s my kind of ruckman

Hamish, can you read? I listed 7 changes I thought could happen over the next period of time to transition the side. I specifically said they all wouldn’t and shouldn’t happen. We made 3. You tagged me in a post about Gus despite me not saying anything that you haven’t also said about his game. A few bad early mistakes followed by a pretty good game overall. You then had a Clanger stat and all I did was point out that clearly hospital handballs don’t count as clangers. Im not going to list all the errors made by a bunch of players, you’ve already done that. I will say Trent Rivers is one of my favourites and I mentioned his kicking was awful.

Is it possible Macca is Angus Brayshaw? Or maybe one of the brothers? Hamish, is that you? Hello Hamish? He’s more fascinated with defending him than the AFL media are overhyping a good role player.

Not sure I criticised Brayshaw this week but clearly hospital handballs don’t count as clangers. Gus was so dangerous he was like a human eScooter out there early in the game, but overall played pretty well. And he certainly wasn’t the only one making errors.

The Saints were the underdog last night, of course the commentators were cheering for them to get back in the game. Al NicHOlSon (that’s his voice breaking mid sentence) clearly doesn’t like us. That’s ok, the feeling is mutual. Otherwise, bring it on. Try to divide our players and pressure the coach, they could do with it and if they’re fair dinkum it will only galvanise them.

I reckon we desperately need another tall forward to keep Harris Andrews accountable. BBB with fit legs can do that job. But he needs JVR and Melk alongside him or they’ll put Harris on Melk or the resting ruck. And Tracc will surely go back on ball for a greater percentage of game time. Viney and Vinettes aren’t beating Brisbane. Ideally we’d bring JVR in for a small. But we can’t lose forward pressure, if we drop Pickett it’s probably for Chandler. JJ and Sparrow should stay in. Taj deserves another run too. I think it’s time to go with Grundy sub, JVR in and BBB budgeted for a half only. If we lose players then readjust with a taller set up but otherwise Max does the main share of ruck minutes in the first half, then goes forward in the second half.

Who plays back pocket? And how many goals do they concede? And how many more goals do we concede without Nibbler’s insane work rate and pressure? The focus for Judd is getting 5 more kicks in his current role. We lack class at half forward, that’s true. Woey has a little something, we know how good Pickett and Spargo can be. We want Tracc forward more. We miss Fritsch and we need to recruit some quality mid/forward. Not the time to mess with Juddy

Deal with it

Not sure how your second half of your post is relevant to the first. Chandler was average to bad for a few weeks. Found himself dropped tonight. Spargo - who was dropped before that - came back in. Kossie has to be on just about his last chance, and for his own good. Go back to the VFL and have 20 and 3 and get his touch back.

Overall Gus was good but jeepers those early handballs were frightening and for an experienced player they don’t make sense. Same goes for Riv’s early kicks. Same goes for Gawn and Grundy’s entire night. Really it’s probably indicative of just how little confidence we have in our ball movement due to lack of talent through the midfield (we don’t have good handball receive players aside from the wings peeling wide) and lack of confidence in the forwards.

There’s quiet and then there’s Kosi. He looked scared to get the ball tonight, super fumbly. Which is such a let down after last week when he got his hands on it for the first time in a while and butchered it